


All Hands Against His Own

by yabamena



Category: Sky High (2005)
Genre: Character Study, Friendship/Love, M/M, Romantic Friendship, Teen Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-28
Updated: 2012-11-28
Packaged: 2017-11-19 18:59:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/576581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yabamena/pseuds/yabamena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Warren knew he was too damn young for an existential crisis, but he figured he was allowed after being voted <i>Most Likely To Become A Villain</i> by the same people he helped save four years earlier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All Hands Against His Own

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wolfgenes (ruperts)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruperts/gifts).



Warren knew he was too damn young for an existential crisis, but he figured he was allowed after being voted _Most Likely To Become A Villain_ by the same people he helped save four years earlier.

He knew it was a joke. A little juvenile and a lot tasteless, but a joke nonetheless. He laughed it off when they'd received their yearbooks earlier that week. But his fingertips had singed black circles into the cover of the yearbook before he realized and it had stuck with him, a growing knot in the pit of his stomach that he couldn't quite shake loose. It was just a stupid yearbook but Warren felt like he'd been gutted. Everything he'd done and they all still thought he was capable of turning against them and following in his father's footsteps. It was just one more thing on top of the mountain of self-doubt he'd been buried under since day one.

Which was why he was sitting on the roof of his ex-girlfriend's house nursing a beer instead of enjoying the graduation party taking place below.

It was probably the biggest party of the year, the house and backyard packed with people. The volume of the music could give Coach Boomer some real competition and Zach was doing his best to act as a one-man light show for the DJ, his powers having developed into so much more over the last few years than just a full-body glow. Magenta was by his side as usual, though she refused to dance, and Ethan was making a nuisance of himself among the party-goers splashing around in the pool.

Warren spotted Layla talking with Bianca next to one of the impressive ice sculptures the blonde had created for the party herself, and he still wondered how that friendship had managed to last, let alone formed in the first place. Bianca had easily slipped into the void left by Gwen, her ice queen image fitting itself well to the popular girl niche. While it had chafed at Warren and led to their eventual break-up, Bianca hadn't held it against him. And she'd been there for Layla when things fizzled with Will, so maybe their friendship wasn't such a mystery after all.

No more than Warren's own friendship with Will, a friendship that had gotten a lot more complicated recently, but one crisis at a time.

Taking a pull from his bottle, Warren resolutely did _not_ look for Will in the crowd below. If he was lucky, he could finish his beer and get going before anyone even knew he'd been there.

Almost as soon as he had the thought, Will's head popped up over the side of the eaves and Warren bit back a groan. It figured.

"There you are!" Will floated up to land carefully on the roof. "Layla said she thought she saw you brooding around here somewhere."

"Layla's–" _nosy_ "–got good eyes," Warren muttered, his own eyes narrowing at the redhead in question just as she pulled a still-dripping Ethan into a dance.

Will made a noncommittal sound as he settled down beside Warren. He was quiet for a moment, automatically putting Warren on edge. As a Stronghold, quiet didn't come naturally to Will so Warren knew something was on his mind. However, when Will spoke all he said was, "I thought you couldn't make it."

"Boss gave me the night off at the last minute." Actually, Warren hadn't been scheduled to work at all, but it had been a good enough excuse to avoid having to be social and making awkward small talk with people who apparently still thought he was a budding psychopath. When he thought about it that way, Warren wondered why the hell he'd bothered showing up after all.

"So...'Firestorm', huh?"

Warren could hear the smile in Will's voice and Warren elbowed him in the side harder than necessary. "It's better than _'Citadel'_."

Will didn't budge an inch, but he laughed and rubbed at his side. "Yeah, can't argue that. But if it had been up to Coach Boomer, your code name would've been Hothead."

"Still better than 'Citadel'."

"Jerk."

"Guilty." But Warren was smiling, really smiling for the first time in probably days and maybe things were going to be okay. Warren could get through the last few weeks no problem. He'd dealt with worse before and this was–

"They sound good together, though, don't they?"

"What?" Warren shot Will a confused frown and found Will looking back at him intently.

Will looked away first, running a hand through his hair and making it stick up at odd angles. "Our code names sound good together. No, _we_ sound good together. Right? We make a good team and—and more than that, you're my best friend. Well, besides Layla. And Zach and...that isn't what I meant exactly. I'm kind of freaking out here and it doesn't help that you're not _saying_ anything and I know things have been weird lately what with the yearbook and all but I really just need you to say somethi–"

"Shut up!" Okay, that came out a little harsh, but what the hell? What right did Will have to be freaking out when he had his whole future ahead of him? When everyone practically worshiped the ground he walked on? Didn't he know he could do a hell of a lot better than _Warren_? "I'm not in the mood for jokes right now, Stronghold."

"Who says I'm joking?" And Warren could tell he wasn't because he just looked at Warren with those earnest and open brown eyes that could do a hell of a lot more damage than his fists. "You know it didn't mean anything, right?"

Warren snorted. Of course Will wasn't going to let it go. As much as he loved the idiot, Warren wanted to beat the hell out of Will sometimes. "That's easy for you to say."

Will laid a hand on Warren's arm. "Come on, that's not fair–"

" _Fair?_ Are you serious right now?" He tried to shake off Will's arm, but he held fast and it only pissed Warren off more. He grabbed Will by the front of his shirt and Warren could feel heat licking at the tips of his fingers from the inside, begging for release. But Warren had gotten a lot better at keeping the flames in check over the years, even if his temper still got the best of him, so all that manifested was a whiff of smoke that seemed to follow him everywhere. "You know what's not fair? Knowing that no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, and no matter how many people I save, people still only see me as my father's son and not my mother's."

It would be easy as anything for Will to break Warren's hold, but he didn't even try. "That's not true–"

"The hell it isn't! God, Will, don't you get it?" How couldn't he see it? Everyone else did.

He could feel the heat of his hands start to reach for the fabric of Will's shirt and Warren let him go, instead wrapped his burning hands around his beer bottle. "You don't need your name linked with mine." It had been a thought that had been circling Warren's brain since the damn yearbooks were handed out. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense and it was only a matter of time before even Will figured that out.

In classic Will fashion, though, he seemed to be taking his time getting there. "Uh, it's a little late for that what with us being best friends and all?"

"High school's one thing. Things are a lot tougher out there in the real world." Warren knew that for a fact. He'd been a full-time resident of the real world since the day he was born. Will hadn't even dipped his toe in the shallow end. The last thing he needed was Warren dragging him down.

"You think I don't know that?" The sudden iron in Will's voice had Warren blinking at him in surprise. "But at least I'm willing to try. You're not some label in a yearbook, Warren. You're not your father, just like I'm not mine. I plan on being a hero my own way and I thought you did too. You're my best friend and I want you to be my partner...in as many ways as you want to be."

Will lost a lot of steam by the time he wound up his little rant, but that last part was what knocked Warren off center the most—and finally knocked loose that knot in his stomach.

Still, it took a minute for Warren to work his way around to saying something, and he could see Will growing more and more tense with each passing moment until finally Warren put him out of his misery with, "What about Layla?" Warren found her in the crowd again, this time dancing with a kid with blue hair he couldn't remember the name of.

He heard Will shift beside him. "What about her?"

"I know you guys had plans..." That had been before they broke up, but you never knew.

"Plans change. Besides..." There was a smile in Will's voice, warm and fond and maybe a little sad. "Layla thinks it's a good idea."

Warren couldn't help but look back at Will at that little bombshell and suddenly found him sitting a lot closer than he'd been just a minute ago. "Does she?" Warren already forgot the question, though, because Will was still smiling, but there was nothing sad about it.

"Yeah, she does. I do, too." Will's voice went quiet, low, and Warren was still getting used to hearing it like that.

The space between them felt like it was growing smaller by the second, but Warren still felt the need to point out, "We have a couple of years of probation before we're fully registered heroes, you know. Are you that sure about me?"

"I'm sure." The words were almost more breath than sound and Warren could barely hear them over the pounding of his heart, but they were enough and just like that the last few inches between them disappeared.

Perched as they were on the roof, the kiss was slightly awkward but still good enough to make Warren worry about setting Bianca's roof on fire. But it was the only thing he was worried about at the moment. Warren wasn't running away, not from being the hero Will thought he could be—and not from Will. Everyone else might think his life was destined for one path, but Warren knew the only path he'd be taking was with Will, and that was enough.


End file.
